Almost 16 years ago, I received a prophecy about something that was going to happen in what seemed like the near future. Thinking that this thing was going to happen in months after it was spoken, I started to look every where for signs. Everybody I came into contact with, I treated like they were my “destiny helper”; the conduit through whom this prophecy would be fulfilled. Over the years, I have put myself in very precarious situations trying to help God’s plan along.

Today I was thinking about the past 15 years and 9 months and realized I have not waited well for the fulfillment of God’s promises in my life. Here are two things I have done that I strongly encourage you NOT to do while waiting on God:

• I have wavered between faith and doubt- In times of faith, I have clung to those words and prayed steadfastly asking God for a physical manifestation of what has already been accomplished in the spirit. I have thanked God for the things he has already done and used them as anchor points to secure my hope and expectations in God’s faithfulness, that He indeed is the same yesterday , today and forever. However, in times of doubt, I have asked myself if God really spoke. I have also made assumptions that the person through which this prophecy came perhaps never heard from God at all and made it all up. I have blamed myself for perhaps having itchy ears and in so doing, being susceptible to deception. Last week, I was reminded of this image of Elijah standing on Mount Carmel admonishing the Israelites sternly, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him” (1 Kings 18:20 BSB). James makes it clear that wavering between doubt and faith results in receiving nothing:

…But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways

James 1: 6-8 BSB

• I have tried to help God along– I met this guy a few months after the prophecy and even though others had warned me to stay clear of him, I remember my response being, “what if this was the person that God was going to use to fulfill that prophecy?” Well, needless to say, this guy was indeed trouble and my worse nightmare ever! He most certainly was not God’s conduit for anything…just a conduit of woes for me! You’d think that I would have learnt my lesson but no… as weeks became months; and the months years, I have justified helping God’s plan along by saying things like perhaps “this is how God intended to fulfil this prophecy” or ” God did not mean this…perhaps He meant that instead”. Today, I was reminded of Sarah who had a very similar conversation with her husband: Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife. And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress” (Genesis 16:1- 4 BSB). Sarah, after waiting for God for so long, decided to build her family some other way and even though she was blessed with a child through Hagar, this was not God’s intended plan and this blessing brought her more than she bargained for! But we know this of God’s true blessings for us, which is why we should not attempt to help God’s plan along:

The blessing of the LORD enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it.

Proverbs 10:22 BSB

This week, I asked God why after trying to help him along for 15 years, I have failed to see the fulfillment of the prophecy and He reminded me that like everyone of His children, He has chosen to showcase me and nothing I can conceive in my heart or mind can be as great and as elaborate as His purpose coming to pass in my life in His own time! Although it was impressive that Sarah was able to start a family with Abraham through Hagar at such an old age, it was even more so impressive and a wonder to the world that she was able to conceive her own child at an even older age! That is what God wants for you:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9 NASB

So be encouraged, in God’s own time He will accomplish and perfect everything that concerns you.

Yours Truly